America at the Crossroads

Page 4

Tuesday, May 26

I've parked myself in Stafford for a few days to visit with family. There's a six-year-old greasy spoon near my sister's that I visited yesterday and have returned to today. I was hoping for an interview with the eponymous owner. Apparently he sold the business a few years earlier and there's no such person there. So I chatted up Janet who was serving coffee.

From the testimony of two women sitting nearby, Janet is the heart and soul of the diner. If she were to go elsewhere, they would follow. It was past the breakfast rush, so Janet had some time to talk with me. She absolutely did not want to be recorded, because she was afraid of freezing up. I agreed and just listened. Her husband's a painter/renovator and his business has dropped off severely. Together they'd bought a rental property a year-or-so earlier, but found it was a losing proposition, so they wanted to do a short sale with a prominent bank. The bank refused, foreclosed on them, then sold the house at auction for one-third of the short sale price. Go figure.

At this point a woman popped her head out from the back and said she'd talk with me, but we'd have to set up some time for later. Her name was Susan. I said great, that's my ex-wife's name. And we immediately hit it off. She was usually the other waitress but was filling in for Blanca who, according to the signs posted around the diner, was recovering from leg surgery and could we donate money to the cause. It turns out that both Susan and Blanca are single mothers working hard. If they don't work, they don't get paid. And there's no hospitalization.

Susan had to get back to cooking, but gave me a contact number. As I was finishing up with my breakfast burrito, two men at the far end of the diner got up to leave. One tapped me on the arm as he passed and said that his ex-wife's name was Susan too.

I'm still working out the time for this Susan's interview. If not tomorrow, then possibly later...

Wednesday, May 27

Visiting my former brother-in-law, Steve and his wife Carol in Delaware. It's been ten years. Two bottles of wine later and we were pretty much caught up. We talked politics, social injustice, and of course the economy.

Thursday, May 28

Brian guides a horse-drawn carriage around historic Philadelphia. He's been doing it for sixteen years. Truman is his horse. Together all three of us rode around the heart of democracy. He plays in a band on the side -- Brian that is; not Truman. Tourism is actually up. Brian believes it's due to staycations -- where people economize and travel closer to home for their vacations.

Friday, May 29

The NASCAR Sprint Cup Series was taking place at the Dover International Speedway in Dover, Delaware. Toni and David were out selling candles, soaps, and fragrances. David still has a little time left in the Air Force. Toni wants to pull up stakes when he retires and take their lives on the road in an RV. They seemed very upbeat about their own personal corner of the economy. Their theory is that women are not willing to give up some things -- and their products are a great substitute for spas and massages. Husbands and boyfriends gather 'round.

Bruce and Art are brothers -- one from Florida and the other from New Jersey. Bruce works in the freight industry and their business is down about 30%. Art is between jobs, but not directly related to a slowing economy. He's just between jobs. They shared a beer with me as they joked about their last name: there's the right way, the wrong way, then Arway. Speaking of ways: that's the speedway in the background.

Stopped in to hear former Vermont governor, U.S. presidential candidate, and chairman of the Democratic National Committee, Dr. Howard Dean speak about healthcare at the Sheet Metal Workers' hall in Elsmere. Apparently there were a lot of politicos in the audience that I didn't recognize. Maybe it's a Delaware thing. Dean's a good performer. And he was definitely preaching to the choir. I seriously doubt that there was one Republican in the building.

Saturday, May 30

Talked with Amish proprietor, Daniel. Along with his family, he provides fresh produce, baked goods, flowers, and more at his open-air stall in Harve de Grace, Maryland -- Unique on the Chesapeake. He would not allow me to take a portrait-like photograph of him, but I was free to catch him helping customers. Also couldn't record him, so I'm relying on memory. The flower portion of his business is down slightly, but his produce section is selling more. He too, like others, thinks that it is due to staying closer to home for trips and vacations. The strawberries looked exceptionally good. I bought some home-made root beer before I left. I really enjoyed a high-energy kid there with his mom. He thought Daniel was a hillbilly, which made Daniel laugh.